Documents Show Biden-Era FBI Tracked Melania and Barron Trump’s Travel and Monitored Susie Wiles’ Phone Records
Newly disclosed documents show that the FBI collected information involving the travel of Melania and Barron Trump and obtained phone records connected to Susie Wiles during the Biden administration’s investigation into President Trump’s handling of classified documents.
The records were released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley as part of his examination of the federal investigation known as Arctic Frost. The documents provide new details about the scope of investigative activity surrounding Trump and people close to him.
According to the records, federal investigators obtained flight information associated with Melania Trump and Barron Trump as agents examined travel connected to the classified-documents investigation. The information included flights taken between South Florida and New Jersey.
The records also show investigators obtained toll records associated with a phone used by Wiles, who was a senior Trump political adviser at the time and now serves as White House chief of staff. Toll records generally contain information about calls, including numbers and timing, rather than the contents of conversations.
Grassley said the records raise questions about why investigators collected information involving members of Trump’s family and political team. He has demanded additional information from the FBI and Justice Department about the legal justification and investigative purpose behind the surveillance-related activity.
The investigation was connected to the federal classified-documents case against Trump, which centered on government records transported to his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left the White House in January 2021. Special Counsel Jack Smith later brought criminal charges against Trump and two of his employees.
A federal judge dismissed the classified-documents case in July 2024 after ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed. Following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Smith also moved to end the separate federal election case against him under Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
The newly released material adds to Republican scrutiny of the investigative methods used against Trump and his associates during the Biden administration. Congressional Republicans have been examining subpoenas, phone records and other investigative steps taken as federal authorities pursued cases involving the president.
The disclosure does not establish that investigators listened to the contents of Wiles’ phone conversations, and references to her phone being “tapped” should be distinguished from the collection of call-detail records. The documents also do not indicate that Melania or Barron Trump were accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Grassley has argued that the public deserves a fuller explanation of why information involving Trump’s family members and political advisers was collected. The latest disclosure is expected to fuel additional congressional demands for records detailing the extent of federal investigative activity involving Trump and those around him during the Biden administration.